Yard Retains Water

[Acre4Me]

They did a decent job with the foundation. So no leakage unless it's a lot of rain. The yard just outside the back door turns into a little pond for a day or two.

The Coop will be up from the house in the middle of the yard.

I was thinking a little up & to the right of where my son is standing.

Cute kid!

I’m guessing photo was taken out your back door and up the slope?

Everyone dealing with sloped land has to address it in some way. When you put in the coop, it needs to be level, so you can level out an area to place the coop, but might need a slight retaining “wall” of blocks, a log, something. I’ve seen some people dig out an area, line the bottom and sides with block (almost like constructing a short walk-out basement), and go from there -pretty extensive and not likely done too often! And the most common (and simple), is to build a platform/frame that is leveled, but may require some steps up into the coop for your access. In any of these scenarios, you could add drainage pipes underneath the ground to drain the water around/away. OR you can dig a shallow trench filled with gravel, on an angle to catch and divert the water flow away. Of course, you could always build your “dream garden” of stepped raised beds above where the coop would be to catch all that water and utilize it. Hardly any work at all!

 

[MandaRae]

Cute kid!

I’m guessing photo was taken out your back door and up the slope?

Everyone dealing with sloped land has to address it in some way. When you put in the coop, it needs to be level, so you can level out an area to place the coop, but might need a slight retaining “wall” of blocks, a log, something. I’ve seen some people dig out an area, line the bottom and sides with block (almost like constructing a short walk-out basement), and go from there -pretty extensive and not likely done too often! And the most common (and simple), is to build a platform/frame that is leveled, but may require some steps up into the coop for your access. In any of these scenarios, you could add drainage pipes underneath the ground to drain the water around/away. OR you can dig a shallow trench filled with gravel, on an angle to catch and divert the water flow away. Of course, you could always build your “dream garden” of stepped raised beds above where the coop would be to catch all that water and utilize it. Hardly any work at all!

WELL i am doing raised gardens because of all the drainage pipes in the yard. I could put 1 or 2 abouve the coop!!! I could even make one the herb garden.
I could even build those wire tunnels around it for the chickens!

 

[Acre4Me]

WELL i am doing raised gardens because of all the drainage pipes in the yard. I could put 1 or 2 abouve the coop!!! I could even make one the herb garden.
I could even build those wire tunnels around it for the chickens!

Sounds like a good idea! Once in, those raised beds will provide many years of service! We have raised beds (flat/soggy/clay ground) and they work nicely for us. My spouse has dreams of removing the raised beds, raising the entire area higher, for a large garden plot, rather than raised beds.

 

[MandaRae]

Sounds like a good idea! Once in, those raised beds will provide many years of service! We have raised beds (flat/soggy/clay ground) and they work nicely for us. My spouse has dreams of removing the raised beds, raising the entire area higher, for a large garden plot, rather than raised beds.

Our yard is also very clay like dirt. I always wondered why the previous owner never added a garden. We like to build things so the raised garden won't be that bad. It will be easier to add a fence to it too. We have a herd of friendly deer that come through the yard daily & a family a rabbits who live nearby so we need to protect the garden.

 

[MissChick@dee]

I used raised garden boxes. And they do help divert the flow of water. And easy to wire to keep the chickens out. Or depending on what your growing...wire the ground let them forage but not dig!

 

[aart]

because of all the drainage pipes in the yard.

Do you know where these are?

 

[MandaRae]

Do you know where these are?

Most of them yes we do but there are a few that we've discovered by accident when we were digging the hole for my clothes line. I wish we could afford to dig up the whole yard and redo it LOL

 

[MissChick@dee]

Yep ... gotta know where the sewer, water, power etc lines are. County keeps all those records at city hall where I live.

 

[SKYLINE]

Glad I found this topic didn’t wanna start one but what do I do with a situation like this? The photo attached is directly in my run. I thought I picked a solid area but then it rained hard. It drained within hours but it was a short fall. Now I’m considering to 100% roof the run and adding something to raise that area. What would any of you suggest?

 

[MissChick@dee]

Oh yeah... build a roof. You could use tin roofing scraps from the scrap yard. Tarps are Wonderful! But keep in mind the support needed in winds and heavy rain. I feel bad for you...yikes! That was me 3 years ago. Best wishes
PS.....build a roof
ETA:if you have perches or treestumps or crates something for your birds to hop up on and be dry they’d probably appreciate it.